Coca-Cola HBC Italia joins "Rivending Pet", the project to facilitate the recycling of bottles in vending machines

Milan, 27 October 2021 - Coca-Cola HBC Italia, the main bottler of The Coca-Cola Company brand products in Italy, has joined "RiVending PET", the selective collection project for PET bottles in vending machines, promoted by Confida (Italian Association of Automatic Distribution), Corepla (National Consortium for the Collection and Recovery of Plastic Packaging) and UnionPlast (National Union of Plastic Processing Industries – Plastic Rubber Federation). Thanks to this collaboration, special containers will be placed next to the vending machines in 700 break areas throughout Italy to separate PET bottles after use and thus facilitate recycling into new recycled PET bottles (rPET), accustoming the consumer to correct and conscious disposal. 

Born in 2019, the project was initially aimed exclusively at the recovery and reuse of cups and stirrers, made of a single type of plastic, polystyrene. Since 2020, however, RiVending has also expanded to the recovery of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), the plastic of which the disposable bottles that contain the drinks also present in vending machines are made, a material that is 100% recyclable numerous times, which preserves the highest quality of the product and does not lose its fundamental properties during the recovery process in new bottles. 

"We are particularly proud – explains the President of CONFIDA Massimo Trapletti – of the fact that a company like Coca-Cola HBC Italia, which has been committed to the environment for years, has recognized the value of a supply chain project that effectively solves the issue of the end of life of disposable plastic products in the vending sector".

"Rivending PET is another concrete example of how collaboration between all the players in the supply chain is essential to increase the percentage of PET recycling in Italy, ensuring a circular economy also for this material capable of combining practicality, quality and sustainability," said Giangiacomo Pierini, Director of Institutional Affairs and Communication of Coca-Cola HBC Italia "As a company we will continue to invest to use more and more recycled PET in our bottles but everyone's contribution is needed to ensure that each bottle is properly disposed of and can come back to life" 

"This project fits well into the numerous initiatives that we are carrying out with targeted actions and synergies aimed at specific sectors" - declares Giorgio Quagliuolo, President of Corepla - "Educating consumers on proper separate waste collection and spreading awareness that plastic packaging thanks to recycling is transformed into new useful objects, represent fundamental pieces to avoid waste and the dispersion of this precious material in the environment"

The "RiVending PET" project responds to the requirements of the European Directive on Single-Use Plastics (so-called SUP Directive) which sets two ambitious sustainability goals for PET bottles: the increase in recycling, which must reach 77% in 2025 and 90% in 2029, and the production of bottles with a minimum of 25% recycled PET (rPET) by 2025 which will rise to 30% by 2030. With its 820,000 vending machines installed in public and private offices, hospitals, schools and universities, stations and airports, the vending sector has a strong potential for education on the recovery and correct recycling of PET packaging, preventing the bottles from ending up in the unsorted waste once the contents have been consumed.